uite so much in Dick and the
apple-woman as in this kind little lordling, whose curly head was so
busy, under its yellow thatch, with good-natured plans for his friends,
and who seemed somehow to have forgotten himself altogether.

"Is there anything----" he began. "What would you get for yourself, if
you were rich?"

"Lots of things!" answered Lord Fauntleroy briskly; "but first I'd give
Mary some money for Bridget--that's her sister, with twelve children,
and a husband out of work. She comes here and cries, and Dearest gives
her things in a basket, and then she cries again, and says: 'Blessin's
be on yez, for a beautiful lady.' And I think Mr. Hobbs would like a
gold watch and chain to remember me by, and a meerschaum pipe. And then
I'd like to get up a company."

"A company!" exclaimed Mr. Havisham.

"Like a Republican rally," explained Cedric, becoming quite excited.
"I'd have torches and uniforms and things for all the boys and myself,
too. And we'd march, you know, and drill. That's what I should like for
myself, if I were rich."

The door opened and Mrs. Errol came in.

"I am sorry to have been obliged to leave you so long," she said to Mr.
Havisham; "but a poor woman, who is in great trouble, came to see me."

"This young gentleman," said Mr. Havisham, "has been telling me about
some of his friends, and what he would do for them if he were rich."

"Bridget is one of his friends," said Mrs. Errol; "and it is Bridget
to whom I have been talking in the kitchen. She is in great trouble now
because her husband has rheumatic fever."

Cedric slipped down out of his big chair.

"I think I'll go and see her," he said, "and ask her how he is. He's a
nice man when he is well. I'm obliged to him because he once made me a
sword out of wood. He's a very talented man."

He ran out of the room, and Mr. Havisham rose from his chair. He seemed
to have something in his mind which he wished to speak of.

He hesitated a moment, and then said, looking down at Mrs. Errol:

"Before I left Dorincourt Castle, I had an interview with the Earl, in
which he gave me some instructions. He is desirous that his grandson
should look forward with some pleasure to his future life in England,
and also to his acquaintance with himself. He said that I must let his
lordship know that the change in his life would bring him money and the
pleasures children enjoy; if he expressed any wishes, I was to gratify
them, and to tell him that his